Journalist jailed on terror charges in Turkey

Istanbul, December
17, 2012--Authorities in Turkey have arrested another reporter, news reports
said, bringing to 50 the number of journalists jailed in Turkey in reprisal for
their work.

Police arrested Sadiye
Eser, correspondent for the daily Evrensel,
on December 12 and charged her with being a member of the Union of Kurdistan
Communities (KCK), an umbrella organization that includes the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the government has deemed a terrorist
organization, according to news reports.

"We call on Turkish authorities to release Sadiye Eser and
end the practice of jailing journalists for covering critical or opposing
viewpoints," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova
said from New York. "Instead of adding new cases to the already outrageously
long roster of journalists behind bars, Turkey must focus on reforming its
deeply flawed legal system without delay."

Police asked Eser about political rallies she had covered as
a journalist, as well as the notes she had kept on them, according to a
statement by the Journalists' Union of Turkey. Devrim Avcı, Eser's lawyer, told
CPJ that the evidence against her client included photographs taken at the rallies,
and a banned book that police had seized from her home. "My client is a
journalist," Avcı said. "She goes to such events as it is her job. The charge
is like asking a journalist why she is practicing her profession."

Eser's court date has not yet been determined, news reports
said. The journalist is being held at Bakırköy Prison in Istanbul.

With 49 journalists imprisoned for their work as of December
1, Turkey was the world's leading jailer of the press, surpassing Iran, China,
and Eritrea, according to CPJ's annual worldwide
census. The majority of the cases are Kurdish reporters and editors
arraigned on terrorism-related charges.

In October, CPJ released an in-depth investigation
into restrictive government policies and widespread imprisonment of
journalists. Among CPJ's recommendations was that Turkey fundamentally reform
its vaguely worded, all-encompassing anti-terror law, which conflates reporting
on banned organizations with terrorism.

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